we hit “pause”

Our God,

We hit “pause” on our unfolding stories
to share with each other and with You
these particular circumstances—
and even more particularly,
the details of us and others in the midst of them.

So we pray in this moment—
for this moment,
but with some sense
of Your presence
never just of this one moment,
rather always in the unfolding
of time and circumstance and relationship—
ever offering the gifts of love—
the assurance of presence,
the promise of hope,
the possibilities of grace—
dynamic gifts that look beyond any moment
into what’s been
and what is yet to be.

So we are reminded
that You care about now—
about us in this now—
that You are ever with us now,
that You have known us through all our yesterdays,
and that tomorrow is thus more wide open—
less confined—less defined,
and that we can, therefore, be more hopeful.

This we grasp now,
as we can,
gratefully—
in the name of the one
whose moments were all defined by who You are
and so opened into eternity,
amen.